Rating: 
Summary: It would be better with a functional CD
Review: As with an earlier reviewer, my CD was no good. More specifically, it would mount but not install. The book is so geared to the CD that it is not worth much without a functioning CD. Too bad! The book looks very good in other ways.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent Book for Beginners
Review: Easily, one of the best computer books I have ever read. I found the accompanying CD, with interactive exercises, to be excellent.You won't learn everything you need to learn about Access in this book, but it's an excellent start.
Rating:
Summary: Good book for Access 97 beginner
Review: I am a controller (CPA) and my opinion is totally independent. I am very good at Excel but not in Access. The book shows me how to use Access to generate report with setting complex criteria which will take a lot of time to set filter if I use Excel. The CD Rom interactive program is very useful. I am sure as a beginner you will love this CD ROM very much. This is a very good investiment. In fact, I am on the net to search more of IDG MS related books.
Rating:
Summary: Good book for Access 97 beginner
Review: I am a controller (CPA) and my opinion is totally independent. I am very good at Excel but not in Access. The book shows me how to use Access to generate report with setting complex criteria which will take a lot of time to set filter if I use Excel. The CD Rom interactive program is very useful. I am sure as a beginner you will love this CD ROM very much. This is a very good investiment. In fact, I am on the net to search more of IDG MS related books.
Rating:
Summary: this book rocks!
Review: I have been working with access for...well ever...and still don't understand most of it. All the books seem to fall into 2 categories, basic intro for dummies and heavy duty brain bleeders. This is marvy. You can work at your own pace simple exercises but you learn nifty high end tactics that other workbook texts don't teach you. By chapter 6 I had learned a ton of new things that I can apply to my business database rightaway. i just bought the other books in this series for my employees.
Rating:
Summary: So Far The Very Best
Review: I have purchased and begun to read many many computer books on MSOffice subjects. This book was the best on Access and I liked the way it was presented I loved the CD rom. I just sat and listened to the lessons each morning until I got it. All of the One Step At A Time books are the best. Now I am looking for more of the same with different DB and different issues addressed but in the same way. Short Sweet and To The Point. I also had need to call IDG books when I upgraded to Windows 98 and I had everyone of their books in my computer at the same time. They solved my problem immediately. If they are updating this for MSOffice 2000 and or have more of the same I would like to know.
Rating:
Summary: Easiest to follow of all I tried
Review: I needed to build a database for registrations for a convention. I have fairly basic knowledge of Access and needed a book which provided good clear examples. I tried a number of other Access books which invariably fell down at some point. This book, with its CD-ROM and sample database - Fruitsweets (what a name!)- enabled me to fairly quickly grasp the additional knowledge which I needed to complete the database. My only complaint was that, like a good novel, I was left wanting more - perhaps Access Second Steps?! Congratulations to IDG for a really helpful product.
Rating: 
Summary: Good Book very bad CD
Review: Its a good book if you don't count the hours lost while your trying to figure out how to use the CD, and to finally find that their CD is no good.
Rating: 
Summary: Use Access 97 to make your real job easier.
Review: My intention while writing this book was to make a complex subject -- relational databases -- as easy as possible to understand. After you understand what relational databases are, and when you would (or wouldn't) want to use them, you learn how to use Access 97 to do your real job. Using a practice database for a small business, you learn how to create tables to store data efficiently, and techniques to make data entry faster and as error-proof as possible. You learn to create forms that make data access easier, and to create queries that extract, or pull out, precisely the data you want from your multiple tables. You learn how to create reports to present data in an easy-to-read format, and how to create forms and reports the easy way, by letting the Access 97 wizards do the initial grunt work and then tweaking the wizard's product to get what you really want. In addition to the basics of forms, queries, and reports, you learn how to create forms with subforms that are truly functional (in other words, subforms you can use to enter data, not just display it), and how to automate your databases with simple macros and custom toolbars and menus, so that others who may not be proficient in Access can use your database with minimal distress. The book's lessons guide you as you build a single database, making the database progressively more complex and useful in each lesson. The database is provided at four stages of completion, so you can jump into the book at several different points and begin using a practice database that's been completed to that point, or you can open and study the finished database. This book isn't intended to be an encyclopedic compendium of everything anyone might want to know about Access 97; rather, my intention is to teach you what you need to know to get up and running as fast as possible. (BTW, when I need to find esoteric information, I consult my favorite Access encyclopedia, the Access Bible, by Cary Prague... I highly recommend it to anyone who wants an encyclo! pedic compendium of Access lore.) The folks who turned my book into CD-based tutorial files did a terrific job, and if you like learning on-line, I think you'll like them. Happy computing!
Rating: 
Summary: Not bad, really helped me out.
Review: Overall, the book was great. I didn't use the CD, so I'm not sure of its quality or usefulness. I tried the "Bible" and it was way too technical for what I needed. I needed to set up a database for work to track dates of correspondence to the IRS, clients and dates of invoices. I already had some background with Access, but this book really helped me fine tune the database. I had a menu, various records and forms. I could not have finished this database without the book. The reason for four stars, is that it's specific to the author's example. I had to tweak some things to get it to fit MY database. She should give broader examples of the uses. Hope this helps!
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